Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1992 - 16

in 1958. The role of scenography in a
rhearre producrion is highly variable. If
a text is sufficienrly srrong dramatically
and capable of evoking an appropriate
atmosphere, then the scenography
should merely suppOrt it and disappear
within it. At other times, on the conrrary, scenography can create the foundation for necessary dramatic relations
on srage and determine the atmosphere.
rhar a direcror is unable ro judge his roral
concepr unril he sees ir on srage. Only
rhen does his final, disrinerive crearive
work begin. He musr have adequare rime
for rhar crirical srage of his work, rime ro
adjusr his premises during rehearsals. Ir's
simply nor possible ro calculare from a
model jusr how rhe overall blocking will
look on srage in rhe finished scenography. \X!ho can know in advance how rhe
acrors will move in rheir cosrumes, and
how rhey'll handle rhe props? And whar
if rhe direcror gers a revolurionary, perhaps brillianr idea only ar rhe momenr
when he sees everyrhing come rogerher'
We didn'r have a rehearsal room in which
14
1992 FALL
TD&T
we could mounr rhe scenography and
have everyone adjusr ro ir during rhe
rehearsal period. And whar's much worse,
we srill don'r have ir, nor even rodayafrer all our resrrucruring. Thearre is rhearre when ir can remain hospirable ro
consrrucrive change up ro rhe lasr
momenr. As disriner from film, rhearre
musr allow irself rhis license if ir is ro
remain a rruly "lively" an.
My firsr producrion wirh Oromar
Krejca {, ar rhe Narional Thearre was
Franrisek H rubin's - A SUI/day il/ AugllSt
The hero of Hrubin's play-as we all
agreed-was the atmosphere of an
August day, during which all the characrers become poignantly aware of what
rhey actually wanr out of life, as well as
whar they really know about life and
rhemselves. The scenography depicting
rhis atmosphere was a critical facror
which, while liberating the aerion, in
some ways actually limited the direcror,
forcing him ro play almost enrirely on
the forestage. We consciously employed
staging based on lighting. Indeed, A
Sunday in August became a starring poinr
for further productions. It was rhe first
time, for instance, that we used certain
resources, and the first time we rreated
projection surfaces as spatial elements.
The basis of rhe scenography was a
raked plarform covered by a neurral carper. The rear of the raked platform was
carved in such a way as ro create the illusion of the shore of a pond. I experimented with concenrrated lighting on twO
large, wedge-shaped, transparent surfaces
rhat leaned roward each other at a forryfive degree angle and were covered by
two projeerions. The diffused light, its
oscillation, literally erased the horizontal
juncture of the twO surfaces. The result
was an illusion of the peaceful counrryside around a southern Bohemian pond,
a hazy stillness, the calm of a flar terrain,
and the nostalgia of lare summer. The
reflection of rhe acrors and the environmenr on rhe surface of the water was
achieved wirh a mirror. The entire performance seemed ro be bathed in a silvery haze. The direcror and the acrors ...
knew how to work along with the
scenography: rhey exploited our collaboration ro rhe full, which naturally gave
me great pleasure.
Whar is a scenographer to do with
Chekhov's plays' If he steps aside and lers
only rhe text speak, somerhing's missing.
If he starts ro illustrare rhem, there's
somerhing in excess. How ro capture the